Parts such as structural members formed from laminated composites may be fabricated using a flat multi-ply charge of prepreg materials. The charge may be formed into a desired part shape using a forming press having male and female dies that compress and form the charge into the desired shape, which is normally a straight or mildly contoured shape. Difficulty may be encountered, however, when attempting to form highly contoured structural members using dies as described above because of the tendency of the plies to form wrinkles as the charge is being compressed. Accordingly, the fabrication of highly contoured structural members using composites is generally limited to hand lay-up techniques in which each ply is laid up by hand over a die or other tool in order to reduce the possibility of wrinkling. This hand lay-up technique is labor intensive, and thus costly, as well as relatively slow.
A further problem with current techniques for forming highly contoured parts members is the limited flexibility of existing forming machines to accommodate differing part shapes that are highly contoured. Since the tooling normally has a permanent shape that may not be easily altered, separate tooling dies must be fabricated to accommodate differing part shapes.
Finally, existing solutions for forming highly contoured parts may require separate fixtures for forming, transporting and installing or placing the formed part on cure tooling or onto the surface of another laminate.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for forming highly contoured composite parts, especially structural members, that reduces or eliminates wrinkling during the forming process. There is also a need for apparatus for forming highly contoured parts that is easily reconfigurable to form parts having differing shapes and which may be used to transport and place the formed part.